President's speech

But there is still no ideal equivalent for "To be or not to be", which is arguably the best-known Shakespearean quote in China. (Incidentally, the British Council is sponsoring a campaign for Chinese to share their Shakespearean quotes, which can be from his plays or poems.)

Shakespeare's plays have been a staple of Chinese theater or literature students. This year's celebrations are doubly meaningful because China's great dramatist Tang Xianzu died in the same year as Shakespeare, and comparative studies of the two are now in vogue.

In October, while giving a speech in London, President Xi Jinping recounted his exposure as a youth to the Bard, saying how he was attracted by the emotions in A Midsummer Night's Dream, The Merchant of Venice, Twelfth Night, Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet, Othello, King Lear and Macbeth.

He also described Tang as the "Shakespeare of the East", adding, "China and Britain can share our celebrations of two literary giants and push the mutual understanding and exchange of our peoples."